Global high performance materials company Ahlstrom Corporation is taking another step in executing its growth strategy in Asia by starting production of specialty multiaxial fabric reinforcements for the wind energy market in China.

The production of multiaxial glass fibre reinforcements, which are used amongst other things to strengthen wind mill blades, will be started by the fourth quarter 2011 at Ahlstrom's Binzhou plant in the Shandong province on China's eastern coast. Ahlstrom will install multiaxial machines at its existing Binzhou site, which currently manufactures transportation filtration materials and employs 170 people.

"China has become a global power house in wind energy and through this investment we can better serve our global and local customers in the country. This gives us a good platform for further growth in the fast growing wind energy markets in China and elsewhere Asia," says Laura Raitio, Executive Vice President, Building and Energy.

According to Ahlstrom, China's wind energy market is estimated to grow at an annual rate of approximately 15% in the next five years. In 2010, Ahlstrom's says its total net sales grew by almost 50% in the Asia Pacific-region and the company made an acquisition of a filtration plant and announced a joint venture in China for the production of masking tape substrates and medical papers. In addition, the company announced an investment in wallcover materials manufacturing in China on June 14, 2011.

Ahlstrom's Building and Energy Business Area currently serves the European, North American and Asian wind energy markets from its plants in Mikkeli, Finland and Bishopville, South Carolina, USA.

Ahlstrom multiaxial products are glass fibre reinforcements used in various applications such as in making boats or wind turbine blades, sports equipment or vehicle bodies, electrical insulation or anticorrosive wrapping for tanks and pipes. The company's multiaxial reinforcements are specifically designed for the production of high quality laminates and are said to offer optimized fibre architecture to provide strength in required directions and can be tailored to meet customer specific process needs.

Ahlstrom multiaxials are specialty reinforcements suited for a wide range of production processes: infusion and other closed mould techniques, hand lay-up, filament winding and pultrusion. According to Ahlstrom, their high wetting capacity can increase productivity and lower the costs of production especially with high weight reinforcements.

In multiaxial products the fibres are laid down flat and stitched together. As the fibres are not crimped, the material can gain much better mechanical properties. The multiaxials include unidirectional, biaxial, triaxial and quadraxial fabrics tailored to have the reinforcement in a specific orientation. A chopped strand mat layer or different types of surface mats can also be added and multiaxials are also available with adhesive backing. The adhesive keeps the reinforcements in place while the mould is loaded and closed.